Niantic and Nintendo have announced a new partnership and their plan to release a Pikmin mobile game sometime this year. Other than a confirmation that it will involve walking, no further details have been released. However, all three of Niantics games have used Googlemaps and listed public places to generate their games activity nodes, which in Pokemon go includes Gyms and Pokestops. It would make sense that this structure will be reused with gyms possibly becoming bosses to be defeated and pokestops becoming either items to collect or Pikmin seeds.
For those who haven’t played a Pikmin game, it involves collecting little creatures called Pikmin. The player explores the game’s environment to solve puzzles and defeat bosses using the various varieties of Pikmin, who each have different special abilities and are suited to different tasks. I found the console versions fun and absorbing and with the game based around exploration and collection, I can see how it would fit the established Niantic formula well.
No one can deny that Pokemon Go was well received, but this does not necessarily mean an automatic success for every similar title they release. Only time will tell if this formula will prove a hit again.
